John Barth, American author, was born in Cambridge, Maryland, May 27, 1930. Barth studied at the Johns Hopkins University and received his B.A. in 1951, his M.A. in 1952. Barth was an associate professor of English, Penn State University, 1953-1965 and professor of English, SUNY, Buffalo, 1965-1973. In 1973, he returned to Hopkins where he was appointed professor of English and creative writing. John Barth is now Professor Emeritus at the University.John Barth is the author of several novels including The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), Giles Goat-Boy (1966), Chimera (1972), Sabbatical: A Romance (1982), The Friday Book (1984), The Tidewater Tales (1987), and The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor (1991). In 1972, Barth was the recipient of the National Book Award in fiction for Chimera. In this interview, Barth discusses his years as a student at Johns Hopkins in the 1940s-50s and his return to Hopkins as a faculty member. He describes changes that led to the development of the Writing Seminars and reflects on serving as a mentor to Hopkins undergraduate and graduate students. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Markley Gordon "Reds" Wolman was geomorphologist whose passion for his discipline, dedication to his work, and his uniquely creative ways of looking at problems, resulted in a wide-ranging career. Among the many hats he wore were scientist, environmental activist, teacher and mentor, university administrator, and government advisor on the local, state, national and international level. Wolman was born in 1924 in Baltimore the son of Anne and Abel Wolman. His father was a sanitary engineer whose accomplishments ranged from developing chlorinated water, to designing water supply systems for cities throughout the world, to advising on the safe use of nuclear power. The younger Wolman, known throughout his life as Reds, attended the Park School in Baltimore graduating in 1942. He began his college career at Haverford College, but left to join the U.S. Naval Reserves after his first semester. When discharged in 1946, Wolman enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University where his father was in the Department of Sanitary Engineering. Wolman graduated in 1949 with a degree in Geology and All-American Lacrosse honors. He then took an MA (1951) and PhD (1953) from Harvard University. In 1951, Wolman embarked on a career of nearly 60 years that combined research, service to the profession, and educating the next generation of scientists. In this interview, Wolman discusses his undergraduate career at Johns Hopkins, his memories of notable faculty and administrators including Hopkins president Isaiah Bowman, and the faculty culture he experienced at Hopkins. This oral history is part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Richard Macksey was born in 1931. He received his B.A from Johns Hopkins in 1953 and earned his Ph.D. from the University in 1957. Macksey went on to work for the university as a professor teaching critical theory, comparative literature and film studies. He also served as the co-founder and director of the Johns Hopkins University Humanities Center. Macksey is also known for his extensive private library, which is home to more than 70,000 books and manuscripts. In this interview, Macksey recounts Hopkins' early history and those who were instrumental in shaping it. This oral history is a part of the Mame Warren oral histories series.

Great scientists and their research are discussed including: Elmer V. McCollum and his discovery of vitamins A, D, and B1; John Boswell Whitehead and his work on dielectrics; Alexander Graham Christie's work on power plant design; the philosophy of George Boas applying the world of ancient Greece to modern thought; archaeology in the Near East by William Foxwell Albright; and Robert Williams Wood and his research into diffraction gratings and infrared filters. There is also a discussion of operations research and its applications in the American military effort.

In this film by Milner Productions, Dr. George Boas, Johns Hopkins University professor of the history of philosophy, meets with students at the Baltimore Museum of Art. He looks at Piet Mondrian's "Composition V" and explains its composition and rhythm. In comparison, he considers Marguerite Gerard's "Mother," a story picture like Norman Rockwell's "Saturday Evening Post" covers, and shows how its design is composed of triangles and vertical oblongs. Next, Dr. Boas interprets the subject, symbols, and design of a painting by Honore Daumier, best known for his caricatures. He also explains Elihu Vedder's allegorical picture "The Soul Between Doubt and Faith." Dr. Boas shows Picasso's portrait of "Leo Stein," and concludes with an explanation of Andre Masson's fantasy painting "There Is No Finished World," dealing with the precariousness of human life. He admits that all pictures are complicated and that there is no one definition of art.

Lynn Poole asks Dr. George Boas, Johns Hopkins professor emeritus of philosophy, a series of questions about the concern that in 1959 scientific problems seem more important than humanistic problems. Dr. Boas responds that there are four reasons for problems becoming obsolete, and he gives examples of each: they are insoluble; peoples' interests change; they arise from assumptions no longer held; and the problems themselves go out of style. When Mr. Poole asks if there are any humanistic problems whose solution would affect the lives of many people, Dr. Boas lists standardized textbooks in education, the trend towards authoritarianism, and the elimination of provincialism. He notes that there is no one right answer in the humanities; every person is his own interpreter. He illustrates this with a passage from the play "Hamlet," Piero della Francesca's painting "Resurrection," and the music of Bach's "St. Matthew Passion."